


Don't Blame Me

by simpletumbleweedfarmer



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Break Up, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff and Angst, basically what if trip had a girlfriend before t'pol, eventual T'pol/Trip, if you wanted Trip to be the perfect boyfriend this is not it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23898271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simpletumbleweedfarmer/pseuds/simpletumbleweedfarmer
Summary: Lieutenant Julyanna O'Hara is on trial for love.After a ten year long off and on romance with her commanding officer, she's finally gotten caught after skirting the rules for so long.To the three admirals judging her, it's conduct not becoming a Starfleet officer.To Julyanna, love made her crazy and they can't blame her.And her only defense.
Relationships: Charles "Trip" Tucker III/Original Female Character(s), T'Pol/Charles "Trip" Tucker III
Kudos: 3





	1. Trial

**2161\. Earth, San Francisco. Starfleet Headquarters.**

“Verify. Lieutenant O’Hara. Former assignment, NX-01 _Enterprise_. Current assignment, on leave.”

I take my hand over the computer scanner, crossing my legs, and running my hands through my now short hair and slightly greying hair.

“Lieutenant O’Hara, you are accused of fraternizing with a superior officer and violating Starfleet regulations during your assignment on the _USS Enterprise_. Do you have anything to say to that?” The white-haired admiral peers over the top of the desk, looking down at me.

“Well, I have a lot to say about that. Depends on how much you’d like to hear.”

“Do you have a defense?”

“I just gave birth to his baby, so not exactly.”

One of the admirals chokes on her water, before coughing and clearing her throat. “Thank you for being so honest, Lieutenant O’Hara. Does that mean you plead guilty to the charges?”

“I didn’t say that. I said I had his daughter. I didn’t say I was guilty. You don’t have the full story. I think you should hear the full story before you charge me.”

“Well,” the male admiral nods at me. “Then you should tell us the full story.”

“How much time do you have?”

“Just begin, Lieutenant,” the female admiral barks at me.

I take a deep breath, give her a look over my shoulder. “The full story is a little more complicated than just violated Starfleet regulations. You didn’t take everything into account.”

“Everything?”

“You didn’t consider love.” I look down at my lap, picking at the edges of my nails. “The greatest power in the universe is love, Admiral. And the story I’m about to tell you? It’s the greatest love story ever told.”

“I suggest you stick to the facts, Lieutenant. No embellishments. No unnecessary emotions.”

It’s the Vulcan admiral who says that.

Figures.

“You want to hear the story, I tell it my own way. And to me, it’s the greatest love story ever told.”


	2. Whispers

**2151\. Ten Years Earlier. Earth, space docked NX-01 Enterprise.**

It started with a whisper.

“Commander Tucker’s kind of cute.” Ensign Summer Walker whispers beside me. “Have you looked at him?”

“I’m trying to realign this multi-isolinear terminal before this ship starts hurtling through the stars at Warp 4.7. I haven’t had much chance to check out our boss.” I peer over the top of the panel I’m realigning, catching Walker’s eye.

“He’s on the lower level, behind you. Just _look_ , Jules. He’s cute _and_ he’s from Florida.”

I roll my eyes, dropping down behind the panel to pick up a hyperspanner from the pile of tools that’s sitting between me and Summer.

I’m about to stand up, when I realize from this point, I can just see Commander Tucker, leaning over a display, which only really lets me see…well, the back of him.

He straightens, and runs his fingers through his blonde hair, turning the ends brown with engine grease, smearing it on his forehead.

I giggle, and he turns, looking up through the metal railings that block off the top of the engineering and our eyes meet.

His are greenish-brown and a smile that would melt snow in the middle of winter in a blizzard.

He’s…wow.

As my mama would say, he’s a tall drink of iced tea.

He gives me a cute half-smirk, half-smile, that quickly spreads across his whole face.

I feel a smile spreading across my own face, and we’re just staring at each other through the railings.

“Sir? The report?”

I see the ensign beside him look from him to me and then back at me before Commander Tucker jumps slightly. “Ah, sorry.”

I hide my giggle, breaking eye contact for a second, before I see him shove the report back into the Ensign’s hands.

Wait, is he walking towards me?

I jump up, shoving the hyperspanner into the terminal, feeling my cheeks burning, hoping that he’s going to walk right past me and praying that he doesn’t.

“Well, he’s cute, isn’t he?”

“SHH!” I hiss at her. “Just act normal. Talk about the ship.”

“What?!”

“Say something about the _ship_!”

“Ahhhh….it’s an interesting name?” Summer says, coughing a bit at the end that I think was originally a laugh.

“ _Enterprise_. Have you ever heard a more beautiful name?” I wipe a strand of hair off of my forehead, smearing a strip of black engine grease down the side of my face.

“Depends. What’s yours?” Someone says that behind me.

Someone with a slight southern accent.

Didn’t Summer say Commander Tucker was from Florida?

Summer coughs again, motioning behind me with her finger as casually as possible, mouthing, “Turn. Around.”

I spin around and standing in front of me is Commander Tucker.

“S-sorry, I didn’t…I didn’t see you.”

“Sorry for scarin’ you.” He leans against the railing, hiding a smile.

I smile back, nervously tucking strands of red hair from my ponytail behind my ears, trying to look like I wasn’t covered in engine grease.

Because I definitely was.

_And he’s talking to me._

“No, no, it’s fine. Just workin’ on some last-minute repairs before she’s space worthy. That’s…why I was sayin’ that her name was really pretty, you know just…talkin’ to the ship and, just tighten’ bolts and making sure everythin’ is just in place and ship-shape and…I need to stop talkin’ because I’m getting’ nervous and then my accent gets worse and before you know it you won’t be able to understand a thing I’ve said and-“

“Are you from Florida?”

“What?” I swallow hard, trying to calm my breathing and not sound like I was having a panic attack.

I mean, I was, but he didn’t need to know that.

I do better with engines and machines then men.

Or really anyone.

An engine tells you exactly what it wants from you.

People? Well, they’re a little harder to read.

“The accent. You from Florida? Because that accent sounds awfully familiar.” He laughs. “What’s your name?”

“Ensign Julyanna O’Hara, sir.”

“That name also sounds familiar. But I don’t think we’ve met, Ensign. Command Charles Tucker III. Everyone calls me Trip.” He holds out his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, too.” I try and wipe my hand off on my uniform, and then awkwardly hold out my still covered in grease hand. “I’d shake it, but-“

“What’s a little grease?” He takes my hand, shaking it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

We’re just standing there, staring at each other.

Like idiots.

“I guess…I’ll…um-“ I stammer.

“Could you help me with something, Ensign?”

“Sure! I mean, of course, sir.”

I feel Summer staring at me as Commander Tucker motions me down to the lower level of engineering, to the display he was working on.

“My hands are too big,” he explains. “Can you squeeze your hand behind that circuit?” He points to a circuit by the entrance. “And disconnect the one wire? The red one?”

“Yes, sir.” I sit in the tube and squeeze my hand behind the panel, and pop the red wire free, handing it over to him.

“Thanks.”

We’re back to staring at each other like idiots.

Commander Tucker hides a smile and then looks down quickly. “I’ll see you around, Ensign.”

My heart’s pounding a million miles per hour as I watch him walk away.

He’s talking to someone else, and glances over his shoulder at me, and oh my gosh, actually _winks_ at me and smiles.

I smile back, feeling like I’m about to pass out.

“I think he likes you,” Summer jumps down the last two steps, leaning against the railing, looking back over at Commander Tucker.

“Starfleet regulations say that commanding officers can’t fraternize with lower ranking officers. I’m sure it’s nothing,” I say, forcing my voice to stay cool.

Summer gives me a pointed look.

“Okay, yes, he’s cute. But that’s as _far_ as it goes. We’re going to be stuck on this ship together for months. He’s just introducing himself. That’s all.”

Summer shakes her head, handing me back my hyperspanner. “I give it two weeks.”

“Two weeks before _what_?”

“You and Tucker end up hooking up.”

“Summer!”

“Just stating the facts, that’s all.” She holds up her hands. “Rules or no rules.”

“I don’t break the rules.”

“Even for handsome Commanders?”

“Even for handsome Commanders.” I give her a look. “Drop it.”

“Fine, but when I’m right…you owe me a drink.” She points her decoupler. “Besides, I’d like to see always-right-miss-goody-two-shoes Julyanna mix it up a little.”

“You’ll be waiting a long time for that.”

____________________________________________________

**2161\. Earth, San Francisco. Starfleet Headquarters.**

“So you knew what you did was breaking the rules?”

I look over at the male admiral, squinting slightly to see the name plate in front of his seat. “Admiral Windsor is it? This is my story. I ask you reserve judgment until after I’ve finished.”

“Just for some context, what was it like, that first warp 5 flight?” the female admiral asks, sounding just slightly too eager and interested.

“I don’t care about how that first warp 5 flight felt. Or even the mission with the Suliban. I was an Ensign. I was stuck in engineering for a lot of it, anyway. Besides,” I give that female admiral a look down the row of desks. “This is a love story, not a history lesson. Where was I?”


End file.
